Orange County Music Blog

​Concert promoter Live Nation has a pretty sweet deal on the table. For $49.99, people who purchase something called a "Club Passport" get admission to all shows at a few local venues (including the Anaheim House of Blues) for the remainder of the year. When you consider your average ticket costs $20 and it's the middle of September, this ain't such a bad deal.

Supposedly, if a show is sold out and you are a member, you're in. Of course, there are steps one has to take in order to ensure a spot, so if you are interested, visit www.livenation.com and figure it out for yourself.

Other venues include Avalon (the Los Angeles one, not the Costa Mesa bar), the Hollywood Palladium, the Wiltern and the House of Blues Sunset Strip.

Fu Manchu guitarist Bob Balch has a website devoted to music lessons. Now, that in itself isn't newsworthy, but I did a little snooping and realized he's really onto something.

 

Anyone who ever took a lesson knows how boring they are. A 14-year-old wants to learn Metallica riffs (at least I did), not pentatonic, major and minor scales. Balch seems to know this and has set up videos by musicians from bands such as Fu Manchu (duh), the Dwarves, Helmet, TSOL, Torche, Monster Magnet, the Dickies, 3 Inches of Blood, Exodus, Pelican and more. There are even videos with Mike Watt laying down the low end, which is worth checking out even if you don't play any instrument.

 

The site, which is called PlayThisRiff.com, offers a few free videos, but guests need to register for full access. Yes, there's money involved, but from what I can see from the freebies, this might be the best instruction site on the net.

 

One of the biggest pet peeves I had when I took those two lessons way back when was how my teacher was completely out of touch with the music I liked. All he wanted to do was jam Beatles tunes all day (I dug -- and continue to dig -- the Beatles, but I didn't want to play their music). In fact, he was so weird that whenever he'd write down transcriptions for me, he'd alter the names of the songs just slightly because he was afraid of getting sued. So instead of being taught "Something," I was being shown how to play "Sum Ting" by "the Beat-less."

 

And you wonder why I get paid to write about music instead of getting paid to play it.

I never made the trek to New York's CBGB, the birthplace of punk rock. But thanks to the Intranets, I can now feel like I'm in a dingy NY club when I'm really typing in a Long Beach apartment.

Click this link for a CBGB virtual tour. I suggest doing what I did: Pump the Ramones, spill some beer on your jeans, drop stinkbombs and make out with a strange girl. It's the next best thing to being there.

Lonely, introverted music nerds rejoice! Your days of cyber self-love are nearing an end, and it’s just a few cicks away. There’s another dating website on the ‘net but this one is just for you.

It’s called Rocknrolldating.com

Los Angeles resident and site creator Daniel House said, as quoted by the Register:

“Music has always been such a critical part of my lifestyle and it’s an important part of who you are,” House said. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a friend say ‘He’s a cool guy, but his taste in music sucked so I knew it wouldn’t last.’ ”

Now, we all know sucky taste in music is a matter of opinion. And those passionate opinions you may have about a band like Linkin Park (and you wonder why you’re still single?) could lead you to the gentleman or lady of your dreams.

You can browse by either music category ­—Stoner Rock, Math Rock, Industrial...
or by individual bands —Radiohead, Bob Dylan, Weezer...

And the best part? It’s totally free to join.

They're kind of cheesy, but some of the questions in Quizland.com's Rock Trivia and Yetanotherdot.com's '80s Lyrics Quiz are actually rather stumpifying.

Such as: What act holds the record for most #2 records without ever hitting #1?
Ummm.... The Carpenters? Nope.

and what "don't feel like it should"? Oh right, "loooove"
(ok, that was an easy one but a lot of these I had no idea)

See if your musical knowledge is as sharp as you think it is:

'80s Lyric Quiz

Rock Trivia

Bonus: These are a good way to look like you're concentrating hard at work. Just make sure your boss can't see your monitor (heh heh, hi Ted!).

Fix Extended Play is a new online video music magazine hosted by Douglas Caballero for a company called Current. The premiere episode (view all 21 minutes of it here) includes feature-y segments on Portland punks the Thermals, M.I.A.-ish electro diva Santogold, UK electronic-pop chameleons Hot Chip (surprisingly hyping experimental-noise unit Gang Gang Dance) and shamrock punks Dropkick Murphys.

Next week's ish goes live Tuesday March 11 at 7 p.m. PT, and features Moby, Spoon, Diplo, Radical Face and Current’s user-generated concert film All Eyes On: My Morning Jacket.

Fix's aesthetic is firmly middle of the "alternative" road: slightly edgy, but not really transgressive or digging too deeply into the underground. It's more Blender than The Wire or Arthur. Maybe that will change over time—or maybe Fix will become more conservative with its coverage. Obviously, it's too soon to make any definitive judgments. Whatever the case, I'll be keeping a close eye (maybe even two of 'em) on Fix to see how it develops.

Also, if Fix is the future of music journalism (or a major part of said future—and the present, to be honest), it makes this print-oriented bastard ambivalent and a little uneasy. Like, how would my monotone voice and scraggly beard go over on the little terminal screen? Excuse me while I fret...

Hear dozens of covers of Brian Jonestown Massacre songs by artists from all over the world here.

Obsessive is as obsessive does. You know Newport Beach-born BJM leader Anton Newcombe is eating this up...

Below is an instructive snippet from the documentary Dig!

Paul Tingen, author of the thoroughly engaging and perceptive Miles Beyond: The Electric Explorations of Miles Davis 1967-1991, has graciously linked to my review of the late, great trumpeter's The Complete On The Corner Sessions boxed set on his website.

I'm currently reading Miles Beyond (thanks, Nick) and, even though I've read the musical legend's autobiography, I'm learning a helluva lot more about Miles, his recording processes and his huge and hugely talented, rotating cast of band mates than I thought was possible. Anyone interested in Miles and the vast amount of innovative and controversial music he created in his final quarter century should read Tingen's tome. By no means a Davis cheerleader, Tingen is rather a tough yet fair scrutinizer of the man's work and ideas.

Jamphat dissects some crucial issues in the often enigmatic world of hip-hop.

Any questions?

Tip: Skye in Seattle.

The recently launched FlogMusic.com hopes to become “the most comprehensive review-aggregator on the Internet,” according to San Francisco-based owner/founder Kara Murphy. At the core of this ambitious project resides the touchingly naïve belief that most people still have faith in the expertise of professional music critics. As a critic myself, I support what FlogMusic.com is attempting to do and wish it the best of luck. As an outside observer, I have doubts this site will catch on in a major way or usurp metacritic.com, although I hope I'm wrong. Let a thousand music-criticism aggregators bloom.

Murphy says FlogMusic will differ from all other such sites “because it breaks music down by genre so people know what's out right now. The charts, according to Billboard and Dusted Magazine, let people know what's especially popular.”

Anyway, for the curious, you can view what publications it will be mining for opinions (this list will expand, Murphy notes) and its rating system here. Flog will also have a blog.

After the jump is the press release. Go forth and read and consume.